Locale of interest identification

ABSTRACT

As provided herein, a list of locales of interest in a location may be sorted into one or more categories. A user performing a search for a locale of interest (e.g., a restaurant) may be identified. A local score may be assigned to the locale of interest based upon a number of local users (e.g., users residing in the location) that perform the search. A second user may be determined to be near the locale of interest. A category of interest may be determined for the second user (e.g., an interest in local non-tourist restaurants). Responsive to the category of interest corresponding to the category and the local score of the locale of interest exceeding an interest threshold, the second user may be provided with a recommendation to go to the locale of interest. The locale of interest may be a local favorite restaurant rather than a tourist trap.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to and is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 14/827,592, filed on Aug. 17, 2015, entitled“LOCALE OF INTEREST IDENTIFICATION”, which is incorporated herein.

BACKGROUND

When traveling to a new location, a user may desire to find interestinglocales to visit (e.g., restaurants, bars, parks, museums, etc.). Theuser may search for the interesting locales and be directed towardtourist themed locales. Tourist themed locales may be expensive and maynot provide the user with an experience that is authentic to the newlocation (e.g., the tourist themed locales may not be representative ofthe new location). Unfortunately, the user may be unable to locate aninteresting locale that is representative of the new location, such as alocal dive bar or a local favorite restaurant that serves authenticlocal dishes.

SUMMARY

In accordance with the present disclosure, one or more systems and/ormethods of identifying a locale of interest are provided. In an example,a list of locales of interest may be generated for a location (e.g., adistrict, a township, a city, a state, a country, etc.). The list oflocales of interest may be sorted into one or more categories (e.g., arestaurant category, a bar category, an amusement park category, a parkcategory, a museum category, a stadium category, etc.). A user mayperform a search, on a client device, for the locale of interest that issorted into a category (e.g., an art shop category).

Responsive to determining that the user resides in the location, theuser may be identified as a local user. The local user may be identifiedby identifying a user internet protocol (IP) address, identifyingresidence information about the user from a user profile of the user,utilizing geo-location software to determine that the user has beenpresent in the location for a duration exceeding a threshold duration,etc. A local score may be assigned to the locale of interest based upona number of local users that perform the search.

A second user, of a second client device, may be determined to be withina threshold distance of the locale of interest. The threshold distancemay be identified by identifying a mode of transportation of the seconduser (e.g., walking, utilizing public transportation, utilizing apersonal vehicle, etc.) based upon a walkability score of the location,a transportation score of the location, a traffic score of the location,etc. The second user may be determined to be within the thresholddistance based upon the mode of transportation and a distance and/ortravel time from a current location of the second user to the locale ofinterest.

A category of interest may be determined for the second user based uponone or more factors (e.g., a current weather condition, a forecastedweather condition, a current season, a message topic of a message suchas an email about an art project, a user interest specified within auser profile of the second user such as having an art degree, apreviously visited location by the second user such as art galleriesvisited by the second user, a calendar entry of a calendar such as anart show entry, a social network post such as “I cannot wait to see whatthe local art is like while on vacation”, a time of day, national originof the second user, a residence of the second user, etc.). A local scoremay be determined by weighting the local score to generate a weightedlocal score. The weighted local score may be determined by assigning ahigher score to searches performed temporally closer to a current timerelative to searches performed temporally further from the current time.Responsive to the category of interest corresponding to the category(e.g., the second user has an interest in art shops) and the local scoreof the locale of interest exceeding an interest threshold (e.g., localresidents find the art shop interesting as opposed to merely touristy),the second user may be provided with a recommendation to go to thelocale of interest (e.g., in a newsfeed, an application, a notification,a website, a map application, a mobile alert, etc.). In an example,coupons, user reviews, directions, advertisements, and/or otherinformation about the locale of interest or similar locales of interestmay be provided to the second user.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

While the techniques presented herein may be embodied in alternativeforms, the particular embodiments illustrated in the drawings are only afew examples that are supplemental of the description provided herein.These embodiments are not to be interpreted in a limiting manner, suchas limiting the claims appended hereto.

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a scenario involving various examples ofnetworks that may connect servers and clients.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a scenario involving an exampleconfiguration of a server that may utilize and/or implement at least aportion of the techniques presented herein.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of a scenario involving an exampleconfiguration of a client that may utilize and/or implement at least aportion of the techniques presented herein.

FIG. 4A is a component block diagram illustrating an example system foridentification of a locale of interest, where a user is identified as alocal user.

FIG. 4B is a component block diagram illustrating an example system foridentification of a locale of interest, where the locale of interest isprovided to a second user.

FIG. 5 is a component block diagram illustrating an example system foridentifying a locale of interest, where a local score is assigned.

FIG. 6 is a component block diagram illustrating an example system foridentification of a locale of interest, where a mode of transportationof a second user is identified.

FIG. 7A is a component block diagram illustrating an example system foridentification of a native locale of interest, where a user isidentified as a native user.

FIG. 7B is a component block diagram illustrating an example system foridentification of a native locale of interest, where the native localeof interest is provided to a second user.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating an example method identifying anative locale of interest.

FIG. 9 is an illustration of a scenario featuring an examplenontransitory memory device in accordance with one or more of theprovisions set forth herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Subject matter will now be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, andwhich show, by way of illustration, specific example embodiments. Thisdescription is not intended as an extensive or detailed discussion ofknown concepts. Details that are known generally to those of ordinaryskill in the relevant art may have been omitted, or may be handled insummary fashion.

The following subject matter may be embodied in a variety of differentforms, such as methods, devices, components, and/or systems.Accordingly, this subject matter is not intended to be construed aslimited to any example embodiments set forth herein. Rather, exampleembodiments are provided merely to be illustrative. Such embodimentsmay, for example, take the form of hardware, software, firmware or anycombination thereof.

1. Computing Scenario

The following provides a discussion of some types of computing scenariosin which the disclosed subject matter may be utilized and/orimplemented.

1.1. Networking

FIG. 1 is an interaction diagram of a scenario 100 illustrating aservice 102 provided by a set of servers 104 to a set of client devices110 via various types of networks. The servers 104 and/or client devices110 may be capable of transmitting, receiving, processing, and/orstoring many types of signals, such as in memory as physical memorystates.

The servers 104 of the service 102 may be internally connected via alocal area network 106 (LAN), such as a wired network where networkadapters on the respective servers 104 are interconnected via cables(e.g., coaxial and/or fiber optic cabling), and may be connected invarious topologies (e.g., buses, token rings, meshes, and/or trees). Theservers 104 may be interconnected directly, or through one or more othernetworking devices, such as routers, switches, and/or repeaters. Theservers 104 may utilize a variety of physical networking protocols(e.g., Ethernet and/or Fibre Channel) and/or logical networkingprotocols (e.g., variants of an Internet Protocol (IP), a TransmissionControl Protocol (TCP), and/or a User Datagram Protocol (UDP). The localarea network 106 may include, e.g., analog telephone lines, such as atwisted wire pair, a coaxial cable, full or fractional digital linesincluding T1, T2, T3, or T4 type lines, Integrated Services DigitalNetworks (ISDNs), Digital Subscriber Lines (DSLs), wireless linksincluding satellite links, or other communication links or channels,such as may be known to those skilled in the art. The local area network106 may be organized according to one or more network architectures,such as server/client, peer-to-peer, and/or mesh architectures, and/or avariety of roles, such as administrative servers, authenticationservers, security monitor servers, data stores for objects such as filesand databases, business logic servers, time synchronization servers,and/or front-end servers providing a user-facing interface for theservice 102.

Likewise, the local area network 106 may comprise one or moresub-networks, such as may employ differing architectures, may becompliant or compatible with differing protocols and/or may interoperatewithin the local area network 106. Additionally, a variety of local areanetworks 106 may be interconnected; e.g., a router may provide a linkbetween otherwise separate and independent local area networks 106.

In the scenario 100 of FIG. 1, the local area network 106 of the service102 is connected to a wide area network 108 (WAN) that allows theservice 102 to exchange data with other services 102 and/or clientdevices 110. The wide area network 108 may encompass variouscombinations of devices with varying levels of distribution andexposure, such as a public wide-area network (e.g., the Internet) and/ora private network (e.g., a virtual private network (VPN) of adistributed enterprise).

In the scenario 100 of FIG. 1, the service 102 may be accessed via thewide area network 108 by a user 112 of one or more client devices 110,such as a portable media player (e.g., an electronic text reader, anaudio device, or a portable gaming, exercise, or navigation device); aportable communication device (e.g., a camera, a phone, a wearable or atext chatting device); a workstation; and/or a laptop form factorcomputer. The respective client devices 110 may communicate with theservice 102 via various connections to the wide area network 108. As afirst such example, one or more client devices 110 may comprise acellular communicator and may communicate with the service 102 byconnecting to the wide area network 108 via a wireless local areanetwork 106 provided by a cellular provider. As a second such example,one or more client devices 110 may communicate with the service 102 byconnecting to the wide area network 108 via a wireless local areanetwork 106 provided by a location such as the user's home or workplace(e.g., a WiFi network or a Bluetooth personal area network). In thismanner, the servers 104 and the client devices 110 may communicate overvarious types of networks. Other types of networks that may be accessedby the servers 104 and/or client devices 110 include mass storage, suchas network attached storage (NAS), a storage area network (SAN), orother forms of computer or machine readable media.

1.2. Server Configuration

FIG. 2 presents a schematic architecture diagram 200 of a server 104that may utilize at least a portion of the techniques provided herein.Such a server 104 may vary widely in configuration or capabilities,alone or in conjunction with other servers, in order to provide aservice such as the service 102.

The server 104 may comprise one or more processors 210 that processinstructions. The one or more processors 210 may optionally include aplurality of cores; one or more coprocessors, such as a mathematicscoprocessor or an integrated graphical processing unit (GPU); and/or oneor more layers of local cache memory. The server 104 may comprise memory202 storing various forms of applications, such as an operating system204; one or more server applications 206, such as a hypertext transportprotocol (HTTP) server, a file transfer protocol (FTP) server, or asimple mail transport protocol (SMTP) server; and/or various forms ofdata, such as a database 208 or a file system. The server 104 maycomprise a variety of peripheral components, such as a wired and/orwireless network adapter 214 connectible to a local area network and/orwide area network; one or more storage components 216, such as a harddisk drive, a solid-state storage device (SSD), a flash memory device,and/or a magnetic and/or optical disk reader.

The server 104 may comprise a mainboard featuring one or morecommunication buses 212 that interconnect the processor 210, the memory202, and various peripherals, using a variety of bus technologies, suchas a variant of a serial or parallel AT Attachment (ATA) bus protocol; aUniform Serial Bus (USB) protocol; and/or Small Computer SystemInterface (SCI) bus protocol. In a multibus scenario, a communicationbus 212 may interconnect the server 104 with at least one other server.Other components that may optionally be included with the server 104(though not shown in the schematic diagram 200 of FIG. 2) include adisplay; a display adapter, such as a graphical processing unit (GPU);input peripherals, such as a keyboard and/or mouse; and a flash memorydevice that may store a basic input/output system (BIOS) routine thatfacilitates booting the server 104 to a state of readiness.

The server 104 may operate in various physical enclosures, such as adesktop or tower, and/or may be integrated with a display as an“all-in-one” device. The server 104 may be mounted horizontally and/orin a cabinet or rack, and/or may simply comprise an interconnected setof components. The server 104 may comprise a dedicated and/or sharedpower supply 218 that supplies and/or regulates power for the othercomponents. The server 104 may provide power to and/or receive powerfrom another server and/or other devices. The server 104 may comprise ashared and/or dedicated climate control unit 220 that regulates climateproperties, such as temperature, humidity, and/or airflow. Many suchservers 104 may be configured and/or adapted to utilize at least aportion of the techniques presented herein.

1.3. Client Device Configuration

FIG. 3 presents a schematic architecture diagram 300 of a client device110 whereupon at least a portion of the techniques presented herein maybe implemented. Such a client device 110 may vary widely inconfiguration or capabilities, in order to provide a variety offunctionality to a user such as the user 112. The client device 110 maybe provided in a variety of form factors, such as a desktop or towerworkstation; an “all-in-one” device integrated with a display 308; alaptop, tablet, convertible tablet, or palmtop device; a wearable devicemountable in a headset, eyeglass, earpiece, and/or wristwatch, and/orintegrated with an article of clothing; and/or a component of a piece offurniture, such as a tabletop, and/or of another device, such as avehicle or residence. The client device 110 may serve the user in avariety of roles, such as a workstation, kiosk, media player, gamingdevice, and/or appliance.

The client device 110 may comprise one or more processors 310 thatprocess instructions. The one or more processors 310 may optionallyinclude a plurality of cores; one or more coprocessors, such as amathematics coprocessor or an integrated graphical processing unit(GPU); and/or one or more layers of local cache memory. The clientdevice 110 may comprise memory 301 storing various forms ofapplications, such as an operating system 303; one or more userapplications 302, such as document applications, media applications,file and/or data access applications, communication applications such asweb browsers and/or email clients, utilities, and/or games; and/ordrivers for various peripherals. The client device 110 may comprise avariety of peripheral components, such as a wired and/or wirelessnetwork adapter 306 connectible to a local area network and/or wide areanetwork; one or more output components, such as a display 308 coupledwith a display adapter (optionally including a graphical processing unit(GPU)), a sound adapter coupled with a speaker, and/or a printer; inputdevices for receiving input from the user, such as a keyboard 311, amouse, a microphone, a camera, and/or a touch-sensitive component of thedisplay 308; and/or environmental sensors, such as a global positioningsystem (GPS) receiver 319 that detects the location, velocity, and/oracceleration of the client device 110, a compass, accelerometer, and/orgyroscope that detects a physical orientation of the client device 110.Other components that may optionally be included with the client device110 (though not shown in the schematic diagram 300 of FIG. 3) includeone or more storage components, such as a hard disk drive, a solid-statestorage device (SSD), a flash memory device, and/or a magnetic and/oroptical disk reader; and/or a flash memory device that may store a basicinput/output system (BIOS) routine that facilitates booting the clientdevice 110 to a state of readiness; and a climate control unit thatregulates climate properties, such as temperature, humidity, andairflow.

The client device 110 may comprise a mainboard featuring one or morecommunication buses 312 that interconnect the processor 310, the memory301, and various peripherals, using a variety of bus technologies, suchas a variant of a serial or parallel AT Attachment (ATA) bus protocol;the Uniform Serial Bus (USB) protocol; and/or the Small Computer SystemInterface (SCI) bus protocol. The client device 110 may comprise adedicated and/or shared power supply 318 that supplies and/or regulatespower for other components, and/or a battery 304 that stores power foruse while the client device 110 is not connected to a power source viathe power supply 318. The client device 110 may provide power to and/orreceive power from other client devices.

In some scenarios, as a user 112 interacts with a software applicationon a client device 110 (e.g., an instant messenger and/or electronicmail application), descriptive content in the form of signals or storedphysical states within memory (e.g., an email address, instant messengeridentifier, phone number, postal address, message content, date, and/ortime) may be identified. Descriptive content may be stored, typicallyalong with contextual content. For example, the source of a phone number(e.g., a communication received from another user via an instantmessenger application) may be stored as contextual content associatedwith the phone number. Contextual content, therefore, may identifycircumstances surrounding receipt of a phone number (e.g., the date ortime that the phone number was received), and may be associated withdescriptive content. Contextual content, may, for example, be used tosubsequently search for associated descriptive content. For example, asearch for phone numbers received from specific individuals, receivedvia an instant messenger application or at a given date or time, may beinitiated. The client device 110 may include one or more servers thatmay locally serve the client device 110 and/or other client devices ofthe user 112 and/or other individuals. For example, a locally installedwebserver may provide web content in response to locally submitted webrequests. Many such client devices 110 may be configured and/or adaptedto utilize at least a portion of the techniques presented herein.

2. Presented Techniques

One or more systems and/or techniques for identifying locales ofinterest are provided. A local user (e.g., a user residing in alocation, such as a city) may search for a locale of interest (e.g., arestaurant, a bar, an amusement park, a park, a museum, a stadium,etc.). The locale of interest may comprise a local “favorite” (e.g., aneighborhood bar that many local users frequent). A second user maytravel to the location and desire to go to locales of interest that havelocal “flavor” rather than tourist locales of interest that arefrequented by tourists. The locale of interest may be determined to be alocal “favorite” based upon a threshold number of searches for thelocale of interest performed by local users.

Additionally, a native user (e.g., the user that resides in a nativelocation other than the location) may search for native locales ofinterest. For example, the native user, residing in Italy, may searchfor an Italian restaurant in the location. Based upon a number ofsearches for a native locale of interest performed by native users, thenative locale of interest may be determined to be a native “favorite”(e.g., a great Italian restaurant in the location).

Based upon one or more factors (e.g., a current weather condition, aforecasted weather condition, a current season, a message topic of amessage associated with the second user, a social network post by thesecond user, a calendar entry of a calendar of the second user, apreviously visited location by the second user, a user interestspecified within a user profile of the second user, a time of day,national origin of the second user, a residence of the second user,etc.) and a distance of the locale of interest from a current locationof the user, the locale of interest may be recommended to the user. Inan example, if the current time is around noon (e.g., lunch time) andthe current weather condition is 78° F. and sunny, then the locale ofinterest may comprise a rooftop restaurant that is popular with localusers. In another example, if the current time is around 7 pm (e.g.,dinner time) and the second user has a stated preference for Italianfood, then the native locale of interest (e.g., the Italian restaurant)may be provided to the second user. In this way, the second user may beprovided with options to experience the location like the local userrather than being exposed to merely tourist locales of interest.

FIGS. 4A-4B illustrate an example system 400 for identifying a locale ofinterest 416 utilizing a locale of interest identifier component 408. Auser, of a client device 402, may perform a search 404 for the locale ofinterest 416. The locale of interest identifier component 408 mayidentify a location 406 in which the user resides. The location 406 inwhich the user resides may be identified by identifying a user internetprotocol (IP) address, identifying residence information about the userfrom a user profile of the user, utilizing geo-location software todetermine that the user has been present in the location 406 for aduration exceeding a threshold duration (e.g., 3 months or some othertime period), etc. Responsive to determining that the user resides inthe location 406, the user may be identified 418 as a local user.Multiple users may be identified 418 as local users.

The locale of interest identifier component 408 may generate a list oflocales of interest 410. The locale of interest identifier component 408may sort the locales of interest in the list of locales of interest 410into categories (e.g., a restaurant category, a bar category, anamusement park category, a retail store category, an event category, abusiness category, a park category, a museum category, a stadiumcategory, etc.). In an example, a restaurant may be sorted into therestaurant category, however based upon the restaurant having a bar, therestaurant may also be sorted into the bar category. The locale ofinterest identifier component 408 may sort locales of interest intosub-categories, such as restaurants that are open for lunch, brunch,etc., restaurants that have outdoor seating, a type of food therestaurant serves (e.g., Italian, Spanish, Sushi, fusion, etc.), etc. Inan example, the locale of interest 416 (e.g., an Italian restaurant) maybe sorted into a category 412 (e.g., the restaurant category) and asecond locale of interest 417 (e.g., a park) may be sorted into a secondcategory 415 (e.g., the park category).

The locale of interest identifier component 408 may assign 420 a localscore to the locale of interest 416. The local score may be based upon anumber of searches performed for the locale of interest 416 by the localusers. The local score may be weighted to comprise a weighted localscore. In an example, the local score may be weighted by assigning ahigher score responsive to the local user posting a positive review ofthe locale of interest 416 compared to the local user merely performingthe search; the local user indicating that the local user is going tothe locale of interest 416 (e.g., making a reservation at the Italianrestaurant) compared to the local user merely performing the search;etc. In an example, the local score may be weighted by assigning ahigher score to searches performed temporally closer to a current timeas compared to searches performed temporally further away from thecurrent time.

FIG. 4B illustrates the locale of interest 416 being provided to asecond user. The second user, of a second client device 422, may travelto the location 406. In an example, multiple second users may travel tothe location 406. The locale of interest identifier component 408 maydetermine that the second user is present at the location 406 based uponglobal position system (GPS) data from the second client device 422, anIP address of the second user, etc. The locale of interest identifiercomponent 408 may identify the locale of interest 416 as being within athreshold distance 430 of a current location of the second user (e.g., ahotel where the second user is residing, a conference the second user isattending, etc.). The threshold distance 430 may be identified byidentifying a mode of transportation of the second user (e.g., walking,utilizing public transportation, utilizing a personal vehicle, etc.)based upon the mode of transportation (e.g., a walkability score of thelocation, a transportation score of the location, a traffic score of thelocation, etc.).

The locale of interest identifier component 408 may determine a categoryof interest 432 of the second user based upon one or more factors. Theone or more factors may comprise a current weather condition, aforecasted weather condition, a current season, a message topic of amessage associated with the second user, a social network post by thesecond user, a calendar entry of a calendar of the second user, apreviously visited location by the second user, a user interestspecified within a user profile of the second user (e.g., a webmailprofile, a social media profile, etc.), a time of day, national originof the second user, residence of the second user, etc.

In an example, a first factor 424 may comprise the stated interest ofthe second user (e.g., the user profile comprises the statement “I lovesushi”). In an example, a second factor 428 may comprise the currentseason (e.g., summer), and a third factor (not shown) may comprise atime of day (e.g., 11:30 AM on a Monday). Based upon the first factor424, the second factor 428 and the third factor, the category ofinterest 432 may comprise the restaurant category, and sub-categoriesthat comprise a lunch category (e.g., comprising restaurants that areopen for lunch), a sushi category (e.g., comprising restaurants thatserve sushi), and an outdoor category (e.g., comprising restaurants thatoffer outdoor seating).

In another example, the first factor 424 may comprise the current season(e.g., winter), the second factor 428 may comprise the current weather(e.g., 40° F. and cloudy), and the third factor may comprise the time ofday (e.g., 9:30 PM on a Friday). Based upon the first factor 424, thesecond factor 428 and the third factor, the category of interest 432 maycomprise the bar category and a sub-category that comprises an indoorbar category (e.g., no rooftop bars or outdoor bars because of the coldtemperature).

Responsive to the category of interest 432 corresponding to the category412, as illustrated in FIG. 4A, and the local score of the locale ofinterest 416 exceeding 434 an interest threshold, the locale of interestidentifier component 408 may provide the locale of interest 416 to thesecond user and/or the multiple second users. In an example, theinterest threshold may comprise a set number of searches performed forthe locale of interest 416 by local users, a set weighted score, etc. Inan example, the locale of interest 416 may be presented to the seconduser in a newsfeed, an application, application website, a mapapplication, a mobile alert, a notification (e.g., via a text message,an internet message, a social media message, etc.).

FIG. 5 is an illustration of a component block diagram illustrating anexample system 500 for assigning 520 a local score to a locale ofinterest utilizing a locale of interest identifier component 508. Anumber of searches 502 for the locale of interest performed by localusers may be identified. A first search 504 may be performed on a firstdate. In an example, the first search 504 may comprise a search for thelocale of interest performed 2 weeks ago relative to a current date. Asecond search 506 may be performed on a second date. In an example, thesecond search 506 may comprise a search for the locale of interestperformed 2 months ago relative to the current date. The first search504 may be assigned a weighted first local score 512 and the secondsearch 506 may be assigned a weighted second local score 510. Theweighted first local score 512 may exceed the second weighted localscore 510 based upon the first search 504 being performed temporallycloser to the current date than the second search 506.

In another example, responsive to a peak in searches for the locale ofinterest (e.g., where the locale of interest comprises a new restaurantthat recently opened) followed by a decline in searches for the localeof interest (e.g., where within the first month of the opening of thenew restaurant, the number of searches by local users decreases from1000 a day to 4 a day), the earlier searches may be weighted lessheavily than more recent searches (e.g., based upon the new restaurantgenerating the peak in searches because the new restaurant was newrather than being a favorite of the local users). The locale of interestidentifier component 508 may assign 520 the local score to the locale ofinterest based upon the weighted first local score, the weighted secondlocal score, and/or other weighted local scores.

FIG. 6 illustrates a component block diagram illustrating an examplesystem 600 for identifying 606 a mode of transportation for a seconduser at a location 605 utilizing a locale of interest identifiercomponent 608. The second user, of a second client device 622, maytravel to the location 605. In an example, the locale of interestidentifier component 608 may identify 606 walking 614 as the mode oftransportation based upon a walkability score 616. The walkability score616 may be based upon availability of parking, density of traffic,and/or a percentage of local users that utilize walking to travel withinthe location 605. Thus, relatively closer locales of interest, withinwalking distance of the second user, may be identified.

In another example where the second user has a car rental reservation602, the locale of interest identifier component 608 may identify 606utilizing a personal vehicle 618 as the mode of transportation basedupon a traffic score 620. The traffic score 620 may be based upon atraffic density of the location 605, a relative distance of locales ofinterest from each other (e.g., based upon the locales of interest beingseparated by a mile or more, a decreased likelihood that the second usermay walk), etc. Thus, locales of interest, within driving distance ofthe second user, may be identified.

In another example, the locale of interest identifier component 608 mayidentify 606 utilization of public transportation 610 as the mode oftransportation based upon a transportation score 612. The transportationscore 612 may be based upon an availability of public transportation(e.g., buses, trains, subways, metros, taxi cabs, etc.) in the location605. In another example, responsive to the second user submitting arequest for a taxi service 604, the locale of interest identifiercomponent 608 may identify 606 utilizing public transportation 610 asthe mode of transportation. Thus, locales of interest, such asrestaurants near bus stations or within close driving distance to reducetaxi fare costs, may be identified.

The locale of interest identifier component 608 may determine athreshold distance 622 from a current location of the second user andthe locale of interest based on the mode of transportation. The localeof interest identifier component 608 may incorporate a time of day,traffic patterns, etc. into the determination of the threshold distance622. In an example, if the mode of transportation comprises walking 614,then the threshold distance may be a walk-able distance (e.g., 0 miles-2miles). In an example, if the mode of transportation comprises utilizingthe personal vehicle 618, then the threshold distance may comprise adrivable distance (e.g., 1 mile to about 20 miles). The drivabledistance may be determined by estimating a driving time based uponcurrent travel conditions (e.g., current weather, accidents along aroute to the locale of interest, traffic along the route, etc.). In anexample, based upon the drivable distance comprising 5 miles, thedrivable distance may be considered below the threshold distance 622,however, if the drive time is 30 minutes, then the drivable distance mayexceed the threshold distance 622.

In an example, if the mode of transportation comprises utilizing thepublic transportation 610, then the threshold distance may comprise atransportable distance (e.g., 1 mile to about 15 miles) or distanceswithin walking of public transportation hubs such as bus stops. Thetransportable distance may be determined by estimating a transport timebased upon estimated travel times for the public transportation 612. Inan example, based upon the transportable distance comprising 9 miles,the transportable distance may be considered below the thresholddistance 622, however, if the transport time is 50 minutes, then thetransportable distance may exceed the threshold distance 622.

FIGS. 7A-7B illustrate a component block diagram illustrating an examplesystem 700 for identifying a native locale of interest 716 utilizing alocale of interest identifier component 708. A user, of a client device702, may perform a search 704 for the native locale of interest 716 in alocation 707. The native locale of interest 716 may comprise arestaurant having a native theme (e.g., the restaurant may serve Italianfood, Japanese food, Chinese food, German food, etc.), a bar having thenative theme, etc. in the location 707. The locale of interestidentifier component 708 may identify a native location 706 in which theuser resides. In an example, if the native user resides in France, thenthe native locale of interest 716 may comprise a French restaurant.Responsive to determining that the user resides in the native location706, the user may be identified 718 as a native user.

The locale of interest identifier component 708 may generate a list ofnative locales of interest 710 (e.g., from a list of locales of interestlocated in the location 707). The locale of interest identifiercomponent 708 may sort native locales of interest, from the list ofnative locales of interest 710, into categories. In an example, thecategories may comprise a restaurant category, a bar category, a nativecategory 714 (e.g., German), a second native category 715 (e.g.,Mexican), an amusement park category, a park category, a retail storecategory, an event category, a business category, a museum category, astadium category etc. In another example, the native locale of interest716 (e.g., a Mexican restaurant) may be sorted into the native category712 (e.g., a Mexican restaurant category) and a second native locale ofinterest 717 (e.g., a Vietnamese restaurant) may be sorted into thesecond native category 715 (e.g., a Vietnamese restaurant category). Thelocale of interest identifier component 708 may assign 720 a nativescore to the native locale of interest 716. The native score may bebased upon a number of searches performed for the native locale ofinterest 716 by native users. For example, the native score may be basedupon the number of searches performed by the native users (e.g., usersthat reside in Germany) for a German restaurant in the location 707. Thenative score may be weighted to comprise a weighted native score.

FIG. 7B illustrates the native locale of interest 716 being provided toa second user. The second user, of a second client device 722, maytravel to the location 707. The locale of interest identifier component708 may identify the native locale of interest 716 as being within athreshold distance 730 of a current location of the second user. Thelocale of interest identifier component 708 may determine a nativecategory of interest 732 of the second user based upon one or morefactors. The one or more factors may comprise a current weathercondition, a forecasted weather condition, a current season, the seconduser performing one or more past searches for native locales of interest(e.g., searches for Mexican food, Mexican drinks, etc.), a statedinterest of the second user (e.g., on a user profile of the seconduser), a national origin of the second user, a residency of the seconduser, a social network profile specify a native interest, or a messagetopic corresponding to the native interest, etc. In an example, a firstfactor 724 may comprise the stated interest of the second user (e.g.,the user profile may comprise the statement “I love tacos”). In anexample, a second factor 728 may comprise the second user's nationality(e.g., Mexican). Based upon the first factor 724 and/or the secondfactor 728, the category of interest 732 may comprise the Mexicanrestaurant category.

Responsive to the native category of interest 732 corresponding to thenative category 712 and the native score of the native locale ofinterest 716 exceeding 734 a native interest threshold, the locale ofinterest identifier component 708 may provide the native locale ofinterest 716 to the second user. In an example, the native interestthreshold may comprise a set number of searches performed for the nativelocale of interest 716 by native users.

In another example, the user may be determined to reside in a secondlocation (e.g., the user does not reside in the location 707).Responsive to determining that the user resides in the second location,the user may be identified as a tourist user. A tourist score may beassigned to the locale of interest based upon a number of tourist usersthat perform the search. The second user may be determined to have aninterest in tourist attractions based upon one of the one or morefactors. Responsive to the category of interest corresponding to atourist category and the tourist score of the locale of interestexceeding a tourist interest threshold, the second user may be providedwith the recommendation to go to the locale of interest.

An embodiment of identifying a locale of interest is illustrated by anexample method 800 of FIG. 8. At 802, the method 800 starts. At 804, alist of locales of interest may be generated for a location. At 806, thelist of locales of interest may be sorted into one or more categories.At 808, a native locale of interest may be identified, within the listof locales of interest, as having a native category. At 810, a userperforming a search, on a client device, for the native locale may beidentified. At 812, responsive to determining the user resides in anative location, the user may be identified as a native user. Forexample, the native user may reside in the native location correspondingto the native location of interest (e.g., if the native user resides inChile, then the native locale of interest may comprise a Chilean themedbar). At 814, a native score may be assigned to the native locale ofinterest based upon a number of native users that perform the search. At816, a second user of a second client device may be determined to bewithin a threshold distance of the native locale of interest. At 818, anative category of interest, corresponding to the native category, maybe determined for the second user based upon one or more factors. At820, responsive to the native score of the native locale of interestexceeding a native interest threshold, the second user may be providedwith a recommendation to go to the native locale of interest. At 822,the method 800 ends.

FIG. 9 is an illustration of a scenario 900 involving an examplenontransitory memory device 902. The nontransitory memory device 902 maycomprise instructions that when executed perform at least some of theprovisions herein. The nontransitory memory device may comprise a memorysemiconductor (e.g., a semiconductor utilizing static random accessmemory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), and/or synchronousdynamic random access memory (SDRAM) technologies), a platter of a harddisk drive, a flash memory device, or a magnetic or optical disc (suchas a CD, DVD, or floppy disk). The example nontransitory memory device902 stores computer-readable data 904 that, when subjected to reading906 by a reader 910 of a device 908 (e.g., a read head of a hard diskdrive, or a read operation invoked on a solid-state storage device),express processor-executable instructions 912. In some embodiments, theprocessor-executable instructions, when executed on a processor 916 ofthe device 908, are configured to perform a method, such as at leastsome of the example method 800 of FIG. 8, for example. In someembodiments, the processor-executable instructions, when executed on theprocessor 916 of the device 908, are configured to implement a system,such as at least at least some of the example system 400 of FIGS. 4A-4B,at least some of the example system 500 of FIG. 5, at least some of theexample system 600 of FIG. 6, and/or at least some of the example system700 of FIGS. 7A-7B, for example.

3. Usage of Terms

As used in this application, “component,” “module,” “system”,“interface”, and/or the like are generally intended to refer to acomputer-related entity, either hardware, a combination of hardware andsoftware, software, or software in execution. For example, a componentmay be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, aprocessor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program,and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application runningon a controller and the controller can be a component. One or morecomponents may reside within a process and/or thread of execution and acomponent may be localized on one computer and/or distributed betweentwo or more computers.

Unless specified otherwise, “first,” “second,” and/or the like are notintended to imply a temporal aspect, a spatial aspect, an ordering, etc.Rather, such terms are merely used as identifiers, names, etc. forfeatures, elements, items, etc. For example, a first object and a secondobject generally correspond to object A and object B or two different ortwo identical objects or the same object.

Moreover, “example” is used herein to mean serving as an example,instance, illustration, etc., and not necessarily as advantageous. Asused herein, “or” is intended to mean an inclusive “or” rather than anexclusive “or”. In addition, “a” and “an” as used in this applicationare generally be construed to mean “one or more” unless specifiedotherwise or clear from context to be directed to a singular form. Also,at least one of A and B and/or the like generally means A or B or both Aand B. Furthermore, to the extent that “includes”, “having”, “has”,“with”, and/or variants thereof are used in either the detaileddescription or the claims, such terms are intended to be inclusive in amanner similar to the term “comprising”.

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understoodthat the subject matter defined in the appended claims is notnecessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above.Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed asexample forms of implementing at least some of the claims.

Furthermore, the claimed subject matter may be implemented as a method,apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and/orengineering techniques to produce software, firmware, hardware, or anycombination thereof to control a computer to implement the disclosedsubject matter. The term “article of manufacture” as used herein isintended to encompass a computer program accessible from anycomputer-readable device, carrier, or media. Of course, manymodifications may be made to this configuration without departing fromthe scope or spirit of the claimed subject matter.

Various operations of embodiments are provided herein. In an embodiment,one or more of the operations described may constitute computer readableinstructions stored on one or more computer readable media, which ifexecuted by a computing device, will cause the computing device toperform the operations described. The order in which some or all of theoperations are described should not be construed as to imply that theseoperations are necessarily order dependent. Alternative ordering will beappreciated by one skilled in the art having the benefit of thisdescription. Further, it will be understood that not all operations arenecessarily present in each embodiment provided herein. Also, it will beunderstood that not all operations are necessary in some embodiments.

Also, although the disclosure has been shown and described with respectto one or more implementations, equivalent alterations and modificationswill occur to others skilled in the art based upon a reading andunderstanding of this specification and the annexed drawings. Thedisclosure includes all such modifications and alterations and islimited only by the scope of the following claims. In particular regardto the various functions performed by the above described components(e.g., elements, resources, etc.), the terms used to describe suchcomponents are intended to correspond, unless otherwise indicated, toany component which performs the specified function of the describedcomponent (e.g., that is functionally equivalent), even though notstructurally equivalent to the disclosed structure. In addition, while aparticular feature of the disclosure may have been disclosed withrespect to only one of several implementations, such feature may becombined with one or more other features of the other implementations asmay be desired and advantageous for any given or particular application.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for identifying a locale of interest,comprising: a processor; and memory comprising processor-executableinstructions that, when executed by the processor, implement a locale ofinterest identifier component configured to: generate a list of localesof interest for a location; sort the list of locales of interest intoone or more categories; identify a user performing a search, on a clientdevice, for a locale of interest sorted into a category; responsive todetermining that the user resides in the location, identify the user asa local user; assign a local score to the locale of interest based upona number of local users that perform the search, wherein the assigningcomprises assigning a higher score to one or more searches performedtemporally closer to a current time relative to one or more searchesperformed temporally further away from the current time such that afirst instance of the search for the locale of interest that isperformed by a first user at a first time is assigned a first score anda second instance of the search for the locale of interest that isperformed by another user at a second time is assigned a second scoregreater than the first score based upon the current time beingtemporally closer to the second time at which the second instance of thesearch is performed than the first time at which the first instance ofthe search is performed, wherein the local score is determined basedupon the first score and the second score; and provide a second userwith a recommendation to go to the locale of interest based upon thelocal score.
 2. The system of claim 1, the location comprising at leastone of a district, a township, a city, a state, or a country.
 3. Thesystem of claim 1, the one or more categories comprising at least oneof: a restaurant category, a bar category, an amusement park category, apark category, a museum category, a retail store category, an eventcategory, a business category, or a stadium category.
 4. The system ofclaim 1, the locale of interest identifier component configured todetermine that the user resides in the location by at least one of:identifying a user internet protocol (IP) address; identifying residenceinformation about the user from a user profile of the user; or utilizinggeo-location software to determine that the user has been present in thelocation for a duration exceeding a threshold duration.
 5. The system ofclaim 1, the locale of interest identifier component configured toprovide the second user with the recommendation based upon one or morefactors, the one or more factors comprising at least one of: a currentweather condition, a forecasted weather condition, a current season, amessage topic of a message associated with the second user, a socialnetwork post by the second user, a calendar entry of a calendar of thesecond user, a previously visited location by the second user, a userinterest specified within a user profile of the second user, a time ofday, national origin of the second user, a residence of the second user.6. The system of claim 1, the locale of interest identifier componentconfigured to assign the local score based upon: weighting the localscore to generate a weighted local score.
 7. The system of claim 1,wherein the assigning the local score to the locale of interest isperformed at a third time, the locale of interest identifier componentconfigured to: assign, at a fourth time after the third time, a secondlocal score to the locale of interest based upon a second number oflocal users that perform the search, wherein the second local score ofthe locale of interest is different than the local score of the localeof interest.
 8. The system of claim 1, the locale of interest identifiercomponent configured to: determine a threshold distance based upon amode of transportation of the second user, the mode of transportationcomprising at least one of walking, utilizing public transportation, orutilizing a personal vehicle; and provide the second user with therecommendation based upon the threshold distance.
 9. The system of claim1, the locale of interest identifier component configured to: determinea threshold distance based upon at least one of a walkability score ofthe location, a transportation score of the location, or a traffic scoreof the location; and provide the second user with the recommendationbased upon the threshold distance.
 10. The system of claim 1, the localeof interest identifier component configured to provide the second userwith the recommendation by: providing the second user with therecommendation in at least one of a newsfeed, an application, anotification, a message, a website, a map application, or a mobiledevice alert.
 11. The system of claim 1, the locale of interestidentifier component configured to: assign a tourist score to the localeof interest based upon a number of tourist users that perform thesearch; and provide the second user with the recommendation based uponthe tourist score.
 12. The system of claim 1, the locale of interestidentifier component configured to: identify, within the list of localesof interest, a native locale of interest having a native category;responsive to determining that the user resides in a native location,identify the user as a native user that performed a second search forthe native locale of interest; assign a native score to the nativelocale of interest based upon a number of native users that perform atleast one search for the native locale of interest; determine a nativecategory of interest for the second user based upon one or more factors;and responsive to the native category of interest corresponding to thenative category and the native score of the native locale of interestexceeding a native interest threshold, provide the second user with therecommendation to go to the native locale of interest.
 13. The system ofclaim 12, the locale of interest identifier component configured to:identify the native user as residing in the native location associatedwith the native locale of interest.
 14. A method for identifying alocale of interest comprising: generating a list of locales of interestfor a location; sorting the list of locales of interest into one or morecategories; identify, within the list of locales of interest, a nativelocale of interest having a native category; identifying a userperforming a search, on a client device, for the native locale ofinterest; responsive to determining that the user resides in a nativelocation, identifying the user as a native user; assigning a nativescore to the native locale of interest based upon a number of nativeusers that perform the search, wherein the assigning comprises assigninga higher score to one or more searches performed temporally closer to acurrent time relative to one or more searches performed temporallyfurther away from the current time such that a first instance of thesearch for the native locale of interest that is performed by a firstuser at a first time is assigned a first score and a second instance ofthe search for the native locale of interest that is performed byanother user at a second time is assigned a second score greater thanthe first score based upon the current time being temporally closer tothe second time at which the second instance of the search is performedthan the first time at which the first instance of the search isperformed, wherein the native score is determined based upon the firstscore and the second score; and providing a second user with arecommendation to go to the native locale of interest based upon thenative score.
 15. The method of claim 14, comprising: identifying thenative user as residing in the native location associated with thenative locale of interest.
 16. The method of claim 14, the locationcomprising at least one of a district, a township, a city, a state, or acountry.
 17. The method of claim 14, the one or more categoriescomprising at least one of: a restaurant category, a bar category, anamusement park category, a park category, a retail store category, anevent category, a business category, a museum category, or a stadiumcategory.
 18. The method of claim 14, the providing the second user withthe recommendation based upon at least one of: the second userperforming one or more past searches for native locales of interest, anational origin of the second user or a residency of the second user.19. The method of claim 14, the providing the second user with therecommendation based upon at least one of: a social network profilespecifying a native interest or a message topic corresponding to thenative interest.
 20. A computer readable medium comprising instructionsthat when executed by a processor perform operations comprising:generating a list of locales of interest for a location; sorting thelist of locales of interest into one or more categories; identifying auser performing a search, on a client device, for a locale of interestsorted into a category; responsive to determining that the user residesin the location, identifying the user as a local user; assigning a localscore to the locale of interest based upon a number of local users thatperform the search, wherein the assigning comprises assigning a higherscore to one or more searches performed temporally closer to a currenttime relative to one or more searches performed temporally further awayfrom the current time such that a first instance of the search for thelocale of interest that is performed by a first user at a first time isassigned a first score and a second instance of the search for thelocale of interest that is performed by another user at a second time isassigned a second score greater than the first score based upon thecurrent time being temporally closer to the second time at which thesecond instance of the search is performed than the first time at whichthe first instance of the search is performed; and providing a seconduser with a recommendation to go to the locale of interest based uponthe local score.